Consequences
by sekdaniels
Summary: Lucius issues a stern warning to Ted to "stay in his place". For TGS Isn't It Romantic Challenge and Miss Jenny.


**The Golden Snitch - Isn't It Romantic Challenge**

**Parameters: **I have here a list of 14 scenarios, songs and relationships. Half of them are romantic, half of them are not romantic at all. I won't tell you which is which.

You have to pick up a prompt you like, for example the song "Kiss the girl" and write a story romantic or not.

The entry is worth 10 points. They double of you correctly guess if the prompt you've chosen is romantic or not. I will try not to make them too obvious, but it will be hard either way since I am a hopeless romantic.

You have until the 8th of March to finish the list. Whoever finishes first gets an extra 50 points. Remember to write your house, school and the forum in your author's note for the story to count and also keep the rating down to T. No incest, smut, bestiality.

The minimum word count is 500 words.

14 (pairing) Lucius Malfoy and Ted Tonks

**A/N:** Aurora Academy of Magic - Canopus

For the [Event] Isn't it romantic - TGS

A moment of inspiration based on a (seemingly) random pairing and I need to get some ideas out on paper. AU with a touch of wishful thinking. Thanks for this, Jenny.

For the sake of argument, and because Ted's background is sort of undefined, he and Lucius Malfoy are the same age and in the same class at Hogwarts. This would also make him the same age as Andromeda Black.

**Word Count: **1200

**Consequences**

Nothing could have caught him more off-guard. The letter arrived by owl, as most do; except this one could have been delivered in person, if the sender had chosen to do so. _It's not as if the Slytherin dorms are so far away_.

Ted Tonks stewed in a dark corner of _The Three Broomsticks, _his nose deep in his third mug of butterbeer, when a flash of white-blond hair at the door caught his eye. Lucius Malfoy sauntered (what Malfoy did could _only_ be called sauntering) over and pulled out a chair.

"Is this seat taken?" he drawled in his overly pompous way.

"Is it?" Ted asked, his words nipping at the edge of anger. He wasn't thrilled at Lucius' request to meet; he was _less_ thrilled with being made to wait.

"Tut, tut," Lucius admonished him as he lowered himself down into the wooden chair. "There's no need to be sour. We are _brothers_, you and I."

"Not really," Ted mumbled, placing his now empty mug on the table between them. "At least, not yet." He arched an eyebrow at his classmate and let out a deep breath he hadn't realized he was holding. Calmness was something he was known for, yet there was something about Lucius Malfoy that made Ted want to lose his cool. "Do tell me, what was so important it required an _owl_ and a formal invite?"

"I had to keep up appearances, didn't I?" Lucius said through his teeth as he calmly removed his gloves, one finger at a time. "It's not as if I could _consider_ fraternizing with you in school," he said, leaning across the table a bit to finish quietly, "where people could see us."

"It's not as if this is private," Ted replied. Lucius smiled at him and turned away, making a signal of some sort with his hand. Within seconds, Rosmerta's quietly mute House Elf had come over with a set of keys and motioned for the two young men to follow. He led them to a small door off the main room, opened it and walked away, leaving the private room to them.

"Private enough?" Lucius asked with a smirk plastered across his face. Ted wanted to punch him; something about Malfoy just got under his skin. He flexed his fingers beneath the overly-long sleeves of his sweater and took a seat. The fire roared, warming the room to nearly uncomfortable levels, even for the deep bone-chilling cold of January.

"Let's do away with the ceremony, Lucius," Ted prompted, "and get down to brass tacks."

"Let's." Lucius agreed too quickly for Ted's liking, but he wasn't much for spending time with the Slytherin and dove headfirst past his own apprehension.

"I don't need your advice about Andromeda, or her fam—"

"Goodness, no," Lucius purred; he was enjoying this far too much. "The heart wants, what…" he let the rest of the phrase trail off with a nonchalant flick of his wrist. "But what if, some years down the road, her poor little heart wants something else?" Lucius leaned in, his gray eyes cold with contempt. "Or _someone_ else. Hmmm?"

Ted bit back an impulse to pull him the rest of the way over the table by his long, luxurious hair. "Tell me, Lucius," he spat, "do arranged marriages avoid that sort of complication?"

"Oh, goodness, no!" he laughed. "It embraces those dalliances. Makes _room_ for them."

Ted was truly puzzled. "What?"

"Because our bonds are about more than love," Lucius continued with a condescending smirk plastered across his face, "they are about _family_. Duty. Honor." He sat up, his back even straighter (if that was possible) with the pride he felt. "I don't _love_ Narcissa," he continued, "I love her family. Her connections. What she means to the children we'll have together."

Ted's face showed only disgust. "Andromeda is more than an incubator to me," he snarled.

"And that is to _your_ benefit, Tonks." Lucius' lip curled up, slightly, as if he'd smelled something sour. "Andromeda Black is too good for you. Her family is too good for you."

"So says everyone _except_ Andromeda."

"Yes," Lucius returned. "But for how long?" He cocked his head to the side, his long, almost white blonde hair draping over his shoulder and dangling dangerously close to the lip of his mug. "How long till you are cast aside because you cannot provide her with the lifestyle she has become accustomed to? To the life she was _born_ to?"

Ted found his heart in his throat; it was as if Lucius had read his mind. For the first time since he'd arrived, Ted found his doubt laid bare before the one person who he least wanted to see it. He looked up and found the eldest Malfoy staring at him, knowingly.

"Let her go," he whispered. "It's for the best. For _both _of you."

Ted's jaw clenched. "Did Druella send you?" he seethed. His face flushed and his hands curled; his anger was getting the better of him.

"I was born into this life, Tonks," Lucius drawled, seemingly unconcerned. "No one needed to _ask_ me to intervene." He rose, throwing his cloak back over his shoulders. "I have to consider my own connections as well as Narcissa's and, frankly," he paused to look down his nose while adjusting his gloves, "having _you_ as a brother-in-law is not in _my _best interest."

Ted took a swing. Lucius stepped back and away, just out of reach. Ted ended up twisted around his own seat, tumbling to the floor in a heap of frustration. Tears burned down his cheeks.

"Do us all a favor, will you?" Lucius snarled as he stepped over Ted's body on his way towards the door. "And stick to your own kind." He never even looked back and he ducked down through the small lintel and back out into the main room.

Ted collapsed into a heap, too emotionally exhausted to figure out how to untangle himself from his mess; physical _and_ mental.

_Is she better off without me? _He could not help himself — he laid there and went back, in his mind through every misunderstanding, every disagreement, every row they'd ever had.

He didn't remember drifting off; yet the day had turned to night and his body ached in a way that told him he'd been crumpled up in that awkward position for quite some time. Ted was just making an attempt to ease himself up into a sitting position when the small door creaked open, slowly.

"Ted!" She rushed over to him before it had even registered where he was. "Where have you been? I've been looking everywhere!" Andromeda Black, tousled and windblown, wrapped up tightly in a velvet cloak kneeled beside him. Her hands were like ice; she'd been out for hours.

He tried to push her away, tried to form words or a coherent thought; he felt drugged. He managed to roll over onto his hands and knees. "'Dromeda," he whispered, "I—"

"Shhhhhh…" She wrapped him up tightly in her arms, her cloak draped around them both. And they sat there, in the dark, silent and cold and afraid. Of life with each other; and without.


End file.
